UFO Sighting in Auckland was Part of Advertising Campaign for Cheaper Electricity

An electricity service provider in Auckland, Energy Online, had cunningly taken advantage of people's interest in unidentified flying object, UFO, to promote its services.

Over the weekend, Aucklanders saw peculiar lights landing at the city - only to find out that Energy Online had tricked them in order to have their attention to its latest cheaper electricity services.

Pictures taken of the "UFO sightings" had been massively shared across social media platforms.

"We wanted to grab the attention of the Auckland market with this out-of-the-ordinary launch and let consumers know that cheaper energy had well and truly landed. We are keen to grow our market share here as we have in the Kapiti Coast, Hawkes Bay, Tauranga and Nelson areas. The launch proved the mystery and intrigue surrounding UFOs is alive and well in the city of sails," Jason Christini-Crawford, Business Manager of Energy Online said in a statement.

In order to create the UFO effect, Energy Online made use of octocopter - an eight-rotor remote control drone.

The octocopter was created by Raglan, a company importing different components from suppliers around the world. The drone was designed with hundreds of LED lights installed around the drone to give that ring-like appearance of the UFOs.

The drone was flown by an experienced commercial pilot. Energy Online had planned the campaign flawlessly as it gave government agencies a heads up of the "UFO sightings."

"We know that Aucklanders are particularly savvy about energy prices and will cheerfully switch power companies to reduce their monthly bills. Our modelling shows that electricity customers in Auckland could save on average up to $218 a year by switching to us. The good news for Aucklanders is that while Energy Online is a no frills business we don't economise on our award-winning service. In fact, we've been voted best electricity provider for two years running in the prestigious Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards," Christini-Crawford added.

The company is considerably young in the industry as it was just established back in 2000. By 2002, Genesis Power Limited bought Energy Online from (then) publicly listed Newcall Group Limited.